The Darkness Within
by ThatHideousStrength
Summary: A year after the defeat of Mithos, Lloyd is struck blind by a mysterious new Summon Spirit, who has sworn to kill Lloyd. Will the party be defeated? or can they triumph against this new enemy?


Darkness.

It was so dark…Lloyd could see nothing in the inky black all around him.

_Where am I?_

Confusion reigned in his beleaguered mind, and he was suddenly aware of pain coursing throughout his whole body. Deep achy agony that started from his temple and ended at his calves. He moaned and tried to sit up, but only succeeded in making himself sick.

"Relax, Lloyd. You're going to be fine." Came a familiar voice.

_Kratos?_

"K…k..." he tried to say, but nothing came out.

"Save your strength. You're going to be ok." Lloyd noted an odd undertone of panic to his voice, which wasn't like his father at all. It was almost like Kratos was trying to convince himself, and not Lloyd.

"Wh…why can't…can't I see?" Lloyd croaked out. He heard Kratos sigh deeply.

"You're blind, Lloyd." Said a different, female voice.

_What!?_

"That wasn't wise, Sheena." Kratos said reprovingly.

"Screw wise."

Lloyd tried to respond, but didn't have the strength. He began to slip away into the deep realm of sleep.

Darkness.

Darkness

Lloyd awoke to the same ever-present black that had plagued his dreams.

_Blind…?_

The word hung there, like a splinter in his mind that he could not remove. What was worse was that he didn't know how it happened, or even when. It seemed he had stopped moving and was on a bed. It might even be his bed, from home. His whole body was a mass of pain, fire licking up and down his arms and legs. His head ached with savage intensity, and he seemed to have bandages covering the whole of his body. Voices echoed from downstairs and he stopped to listen.

"We can't go protecting the boy forev'r! He's got to know sometime, eh." Dirk's voice, arguing with someone.

"The truth would throw his mind even further, and we all know he's been pushed farther than any of us could've handled already." Dad's voice, the same calm river of reason it always is.

"Then what the hell are we supposed to do about his…well you know!" Sheena. Why was she here? "You can't exactly explain that away."

_What away?_

"I agree with Sheena. The kid's no idiot, even if he isn't as good-looking as I am." Zelos, no doubt. A loud slap echoed up the stairs along with the conversation.

"This is no time for jokes, Zelos! This is serious!" Sheena again, chastising her fiancée.

"Colette? You seem awfully quiet, is there something bothering you?" Regal this time.

"I'm just so worried about Lloyd. I hope he can handle the truth."

_What truth? What are they hiding from me?_

"Lloyd is very strong, I think he can handle this. Genis? Your thoughts?"

"I don't know Regal. Lloyd has been through more in the last few weeks than any of us thought he could handle, I'm not sure he could deal with this. But then again, not telling him could be just as bad."

"Way to be decisive, half-pint." Zelos again.

"Shut up! This isn't a game! This is the rest of Lloyd's life we're talking about here!"

"I know, I'm sorry. Look, I'm just worried for the kid myself."

The conversation continued on, but Lloyd's senses began to desert him, until he finally collapsed back on the bed, hearing no more.

Darkness.

"Lloyd?"

Sheena's worried voice sounded from across his room. "Lloyd, you awake?"

"Yeah…" mumbled Lloyd. He still couldn't see, even though his eyes were wide open. It unnerved him, and it must have done the same to Sheena; he could hear it in her voice.

"We're having sort of a meeting downstairs…we'd like you to join us, if you feel up to it of course!" she added hastily, not sure how you treat a blind person. Lloyd laughed good-naturedly.

"Of course, Sheena." He got up and began to shuffle uncertainly towards where he guessed the stairs were.

"Oh my goodness!" Sheena yelped. "Oh I am so sorry Lloyd here…" she took his hands and guided him slowly. Lloyd laughed again, trying more to set her at ease than anything.

"It's ok. So, are you guys gonna tell me what's going on?"

"Yeah, that's what this is for. We're sorry…well _I'm_ sorry its been kept from you for this long."

Lloyd didn't respond, he just let her guide him down to the table, where everyone had gathered. The voices and scuffling were hard to mistake. Muttered words caught his ears; "half-pint", "moron", "quite enough", "Ridiculous imbeciles", were just some. Finally, one voice shut them up and called to Lloyd, a beacon of light in his darkness.

"Lloyd, welcome home." It was his father, Kratos. He felt his presence in front of him like heat from a fire.

"Hey, Dad." Lloyd replied. He felt a hand clasp his shoulder firmly; Kratos' way of expressing affection.

"Follow me."

Lloyd reached out and held onto his father's shoulder, sitting once they got to the table. Everyone was quiet, and the silence was like a blanket, stretching out and covering them all.

"So, someone want to tell me what's going on?" He asked simply, as if discussing tea, or the weather. No one replied for awhile, they seem too embarrassed to say anything. Finally, Regal spoke.

"Lloyd, you were in a terrible battle. You were wounded severely, and your life was despaired of. Luckily, Raine managed to find you in time to save your life."

Lloyd stared sightlessly at the spot where Regal's voice was coming from. Regal sounded like there was worse news, as if something else was wrong. By the sound, it was one _hell_ of a problem.

"Also…Lloyd…you're blind." Genis spoke up.

"Aware of it." Lloyd said. "When will I see again? I mean, Raine can just shine her staff and I'll be able to see again, right?"

A _very_ uncomfortable silence took their voices.

"Right? Right?" Lloyd's voice was beginning to take a hysteric edge.

"…no, Lloyd. You won't ever see again." Kratos dropped the bomb with merciless simplicity.

Lloyd's sightless eyes widened and his mouth made a little _o _of shock. For a moment no one said anything, but it was clear they were all looking straight at him. Then, several people spoke at once.

"You'll make it through, Lloyd…"

"It isn't that serious…"

"We'll help you through every step…"

"I'm so sorry, Lloyd…"

"We'll find a way to let you see…"

Lloyd was still stunned by the news, and just sat there, contemplating the implications of being a blind swordsman. Finally, he spoke.

"How did this happen?" He wondered softly. "Why am I blind?"

"Well…" Genis began. "Don't you remember?" Lloyd shook his head.

"No, I don't. Someone want to tell me?"

"What was the last thing you remember?" Kratos asked.

"I remember…the picnic, at Palmacosta. The one where Dad tripped and fell in the bay." He smiled at the memory. "Then...well, that's it. It's all blank after that."

An uncomfortable silence stole into the room again.

"I didn't trip…" Kratos muttered.

"Um, well. That was two weeks ago, Lloyd." Genis said.

"What? No way, I would've remembered something." Lloyd protested stubbornly.

"No, Lloyd you wouldn't." Raine spoke for the first time. She sounded like she had been crying. "Because…"

"Hold on." Regal interrupted. "Perhaps it would be better for him to hear the whole story first."

"Agreed." Kratos said. "Sheena would be the best choice, since she was there."

Sheena seemed be nervous, but accepted all the same.

"Well…" Unease was clear in her voice. "It was like this. It started after I had discovered the presence of another Summon Spirit, right after the picnic."

"Really? Oh cool, which one was this?" Lloyd burst out.

"Shut up! Let me tell the story!"

"Nice one, Sheena. Yell at a blind person. Way to go." Her fiancée drawled. Genis chuckled and Sheena apparently whirled about on him.

"You…! Gah, I can't believe I'm engaged to you!" She said, exasperated. "Anyways…After I told you about this Summon Spirit, you wanted to go out and make a pact with it. I thought it was ok so I went. Its shrine was located at the Ruins of the Tower, and the name of the Spirit was the Anz'eth, the Summon Spirit of Hate. He is the opposite of Corrine." Her voice seemed to take a mystical tone to it, a dreamy sort of quality that drew Lloyd into the story headfirst. "He is the antithesis of everything we love and hold dear. His sole goal in this world is too balance every act of good with an act of evil, every kind deed with a cruel one, and every saint with a demon. That is his way, and he will stop at nothing to see it fulfilled. When we defeated Mithos and saved the two worlds, Anz'eth had to balance all the good with _some_ kind of evil, as was his duty. But there wasn't any one single act he could orchestrate that would restore the balance properly. So he resorted to many, many acts of minor evil. Things like theft, vandalism, muggings, and fights. That's why the world was so uneasy and turbulent in those first few months. It was Anz'eth, trying to keep the balance. But soon became apparent that it would take years if not decades of that to properly restore the balance. That's how amazing our deed was, Lloyd."

"We did a wonderful thing, Lloyd." Colette said softly.

"Yes, we did." Sheena continued. "So he came up with one act that he thought would sufficiently balance out good and evil. That act…was to kill you."

Lloyd was surprised.

"Kill me? How in Martel's name would killing me be _that_ evil?" Lloyd wondered innocently.

"Well…" Zelos spoke seriously for once. "You _are_ kind of a hero."

Lloyd expression tightened.

"What are we going to do?"

"We don't know…" Raine said. "We…just now agreed to tell you what happened. It will take some time to work out a plan."

Lloyd looked down and didn't say anything for awhile. Then he said, with the air of a man condemned to death: "Alright…I think I'll go watch the sunset."

With this he stood up and grasped Kratos' shoulder once more. Several people got up at once to help him, but his questing hand found only Colette's. He let her guide him up to his room, where he did felt the sun go down, still completely in the dark.


End file.
